The invention relates to hangers for holding garments in an upright position supported from a rod or hook. Particularly, the invention relates to an adjustable hanger that is adjustable in width to accommodate clothing of variable size.
Clothing hangers having some means of adjusting the effective width (shoulder-to-shoulder direction) of the hanger are known, such as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,052,599; 5,085,358; and 5,476,199. These patents described hangers each having a hook-shaped member for hanging a garment from a horizontal rod or hook. The hook-shaped member supports a hanger body that includes leg members having a degree of length adjustability in the widthwise direction.
The present inventor has recognized that it would be advantageous if a clothing hanger not only was adjustable in effective width to more closely correspond to clothing shoulder-to-shoulder width, but would also prevent overall shirt wrinkling caused by contact with other hung garments. The present inventor has recognized that it would be advantageous if a clothing hanger would also prevent pointed wrinkles or sharp creases in the shirt fabric heretofore caused by the shirt being hung on thin wire hangers. The present inventor has recognized that it would be advantageous if a clothing hanger would also prevent wrinkling in the collar and upper chest area of the shirt.
The present inventor has recognized that it would be advantageous if a clothing hanger comprised a shape for supporting a garment such that a garment could be hung to dry on the hanger without drying with pointed wrinkles or sharp creases caused by the garment-supporting surfaces of the hanger.
The invention includes a garment hanger comprising a hanger body having legs extending along the hanger widthwise direction. The hanger body is connected to a hook-shaped member extending from a central region of the hanger body, the hook-shaped member configured to engage a support rod for suspending the garment hanger. First and second leg extensions are each adjustably engaged to a leg of the hanger body and are selectively extendable from each leg to determine an overall width of the garment hanger. A collar support extends upwardly from the hanger body. The collar support comprises first and second posts, each extending at an angle to a respective one of the legs. The first and second posts are spaced apart by a distance approximating the flat, widthwise dimension of an upstanding garment collar.
The garment hanger further comprises a spacer extending on opposite sides of the hook-shaped member in a horizontal, profile direction that is perpendicular to the widthwise direction, the spacer having a length along the profile direction approximately equal to an overall thickness of the leg extensions taken along the profile direction. The spacer functions to space the hanger centerline from centerlines of adjacent hangers hung on a common rod, to prevent excessive contact from a hung garment with adjacent hung garments. By limiting this contact, garment wrinkling can be substantially reduced.
The legs and the leg extensions have inverted U-shaped cross-sections and are telescopically engaged. One of the legs and leg extensions comprises incrementally spaced-apart notches and the other of the legs and leg extensions comprises at least one lug sized and shaped to fit into a selected one of the notches to adjust the degree of telescopic engagement of the respective leg and leg extensions.
Advantageously, according to one embodiment, the leg extensions have an overall thickness in the profile direction of about one inch. The leg extensions have downwardly angled flared end portions.
The collar support can include a generally horizontal strut connecting together the posts and the hook-shaped member. The posts are spaced apart such that the overall width in the widthwise direction of the collar support is approximately four inches. The posts extend vertically from the legs to a height of about one inch. The posts and the strut can be formed together as a curved arch.
The legs and the leg extensions together comprise plural notches and engagement lugs applied on opposite ones of the legs and leg extensions and are in a quantity such that an excess number of either notches or lugs are present to provide for an incremental adjustability in the overall dimension, along the hanger widthwise direction, of the legs and leg extensions.
The hook-shaped member is preferably in the form of an arcuate wire or rod, and the posts and the strut are in wire or rod form and comprises a substantially equal material thickness as the hook-shaped member. The hook-shaped member and the collar support are preferably molded in unitary fashion of a plastic material, and the leg extensions are also preferably composed of plastic material.
Numerous other advantages and features of the present invention will be become readily apparent from the following detailed description of the invention and the embodiments thereof, from the claims and from the accompanying drawings.